The present disclosure relates generally to hand-held utensils. In particular, utensils combined with handles adapted for handling or manipulating containers are described.
Known utensils are not entirely satisfactory for the range of applications in which they are employed. For example, many existing utensils are not capable of effectively retaining a reusable container and its associated lid for the purpose of manipulating the container. In addition, conventional utensils that are capable of retaining a reusable container typically feature a mechanism that grabs on to the container to secure it in the utensil. In many of those cases, the user may be required to provide a constant force on the utensil in order for the container to be properly secured.
The advent of the single-serve brewing machine or K-Cup® machine has creates a need for a reusable container. Traditionally, K-Cup® machines utilize a disposable K-Cup® pack that contains pre-filled grounds or other brew material desired by the user. Once the K-Cup® machine has finished brewing the desired beverage, the K-Cup® pack or disposable container holding the messy grounds or brew material is discarded.
With the pre-filled disposable K-Cup® pack, the user is limited to enjoying a beverage brewed with that particular pre-filled brewing material. However, the use of a reusable container or reusable K-Cup® pack has become preferable to users wanting the flexibility of brewing beverages that aren't necessarily available the traditional pre-filled K-Cup® packs or pre-filled disposable containers. The reusable container allows a user to fill the container with his or her preferred grounds or brewing material.
Use of a reusable container necessitates a means for easily removing the residual grounds or brewing material from the reusable container so that the container is clean and ready for future use. Disposal of the brewing material by merely dumping the contents of the reusable container into a sink or waste receptacle is messy and inefficient.
Thus, there exists a need for utensils that improve upon and advance the design of known hand-held utensils. Examples of new and useful utensils relevant to the needs existing in the field are discussed below.